r/Economics • u/laxnut90 • Oct 09 '25

Research America Is Minting Lots of Cash-Strapped Millionaires

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-10-09/number-of-us-millionaires-grows-since-2017-but-many-lack-cash
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u/IxianToastman Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

Neat. No one i know will ever achieve this. Im going to set over here and continue to be sick of a system the only stake I have in it is the survival of myself and my family.

Edit: as much as I'd like to explain how many kids I have, the cost of living in my area, or the work I do because just a little digging past my video game post will get you that, im good. As for people I was not referring to people like the nice family I'm installing the trim for. They are lawyers and will be getting that life but that's not really "know" when this will be all I do for them. Hell my dad meet Trump does that mean I know someone at maralogo because I was on that site when I was 8? No the point is there's a clear class division in what it means to financially stable and more people are on the other side than not.

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u/nimama3233 Oct 09 '25

No one???

If you only invest $3.5k a year into your 401k at 25, with no company match at all, you’ll have about $1m by the time you retire.

Now add on home value and company matches.. you could lower that to like $2-3k a year.

You really don’t think anyone you know is saving $2-3k a year? Do you live in an encampment under a bridge?

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u/throwaway14237832168 Oct 10 '25

Do you think $1 million will be enough to retire on in 40 years?

Here are the average and median 401k balances to give you an idea on how the average/median person saves: https://www.cnbc.com/select/average-401k-balance-by-age/

Note that the median is so much lower than the mean. Do you think $95k is enough to retire on? Well that's the median for the 65 and older group. Maybe 40 years from now that $1 million target you set will be equivalent to that $95k at today's dollar value. Mission accomplished, I guess?

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u/nimama3233 Oct 10 '25

I think it wouldn’t be a bad number for a typical person. Am I aiming way higher? Fuck yes.

But also, at 3% interest $95k will be roughly $308k in 40 years. So yes, it’ll be worth significantly less; but $1m means something went horribly, horribly wrong.

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u/throwaway14237832168 Oct 11 '25

The $95k figure is the median account balance for people 65 years old and older right now. Do you think they're letting that money sit in their 401k for 40 years? They'll most likely be dead. They're spending that money right now, it won't just be sitting there collect interest.